THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Thursday’s 1st T20 between ENGLAND v INDIA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

MATCH OVERVIEW:

After a thrilling Test match, England and India move into a T20 series on Thursday. We kick off the series at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, and I’m sure we’re going to have plenty of drama in-running on Betdaq Betting Exchange throughout the series. The Test match was superb, with England chasing down a simply massive score in the fourth innings. The biggest change for this England limited-overs side since hammering the Netherlands 3-0 in an ODI series is the retirement of their World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan. He was edging more and more into the background given his drop in performance and you have to give him massive credit for not “hanging around” in a World Cup year.

For India, this series is a chance to dust themselves off after the Test result. After a massive gap between the fourth and fifth Test, a series result of 2-2 in England is still a very good result. Rohit Sharma is now free after having Covid19 to join the squad too, and he will very likely play all three T20’s. There was definitely an edge between the sides in the Test match, and although T20 is more relaxed you do feel the tension between the two sides. They are the best two sides in the world at the moment, so every game is massive. India have a wealth of riches in T20 cricket after the success of the IPL, but Ireland did push their second XI in Dublin recently. The Indian side will look very different here though, but it will be very interesting to see how they deal with these England batters who seem to attack at every possible moment.

With England’s attacking tactics, and India’s fantastic wealth of talent we’re sure to have a fantastic series. It’s likely the bat will win over the ball, however India have decided to rest a few players here for the first game. Kohli, Bumrah, Pant and Jadeja will sit this one out, so surely this is a brilliant chance for England to go 1-0 up.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

We start the series at the Rose Bowl, and this ground isn’t that high scoring. The last International T20 here saw England post 180/6 and Sri Lanka got bowled out for 91. That was a poor Sri Lankan side however, and a better idea of an International par score here might be the Australian series in 2020. Because of Covid19, the sides played three games here within a week. The first inning scores were 162/7 (won), 157/7 (lost) and 145/6 (lost). I feel that’s a fair reflection of what to expect here to be honest – I would be very surprised if we saw a score of over 180. This is a massive ground too, so don’t expect a huge amount of sixes either. The market might not rate a score of 160, but I feel the team batting first would be well in the game with 160 on the board.

RECOMMENDED BET:

This should be a brilliant series, but I feel the squad selection has opened the door for England here. We all know how strong this limited overs England side is, and they have been in superb form recently – they set a new ODI world record against the Netherlands! I know this is a big jump in standard, but India are without some very key players here. They will be back for the second T20 so things might change, but for Thursday I feel England are cracking value at 1.75 or bigger. I would expect the odds to move back out when India’s stars come back, but England can take a series lead. The Indian bowling will be very interesting – they weren’t great in Ireland, and obviously without Bumrah and Jadeja they aren’t close to full strength.

The Edge Says:
Two points win England to beat India at 1.75 with Betdaq Exchange.

View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngInd1

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

When I look at the data from the Rose Bowl, nothing really jumps out as a set strategy. If you read my preview from the first T20 Blast Quarter-Final, it was clear that there was a little edge for the side who bowls first and then chases, but here we don’t see anything like that. I would suggest it would be a tricky decision on what to do at the toss. I feel the best angle in-running here might be to get against the Indian bowling who could go for a lot of runs not at full strength. Although they beat Ireland, they did go around the park plus England will attack more too. As I said above though, don’t just expect big scores here, it’s not that kind of ground. A score of 170 from England will be a very tough chase for India for example.